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A review by books_with_mana
Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
This novel is perfect for those who love experimental works.
There is a pinch of literary fiction, folktale, mythology, historical background, fantasy, intergenerational aspects, oral storytelling, queer allegories, and so much more.
Bestiary is a nonlinear, multi-generational experiment exploring how stories are passed down from generation to generation. K-Ming Chang plays with narrative structure by blending the epistolary form, fables, oral storytelling, and close third-person narration. In the narrative, the character Mother tells Daughter a story about a hungry tiger who eats toes to explain why she cut hers off and keeps them in a tin. Then, one day Daughter wakes up with a tiger tail. This novel turns impossible tales of rivers impregnating women, flying crabs, and holes carrying letters across the country into a plausible reality. There is no line between fantasy and reality as the two are brilliantly woven together.
I requested to read this novel because I was lucky enough to be in a workshop taught by K-Ming last summer. It was a dream come true learning from someone whose thematic elements are similar to my own.
There is a pinch of literary fiction, folktale, mythology, historical background, fantasy, intergenerational aspects, oral storytelling, queer allegories, and so much more.
Bestiary is a nonlinear, multi-generational experiment exploring how stories are passed down from generation to generation. K-Ming Chang plays with narrative structure by blending the epistolary form, fables, oral storytelling, and close third-person narration. In the narrative, the character Mother tells Daughter a story about a hungry tiger who eats toes to explain why she cut hers off and keeps them in a tin. Then, one day Daughter wakes up with a tiger tail. This novel turns impossible tales of rivers impregnating women, flying crabs, and holes carrying letters across the country into a plausible reality. There is no line between fantasy and reality as the two are brilliantly woven together.
I requested to read this novel because I was lucky enough to be in a workshop taught by K-Ming last summer. It was a dream come true learning from someone whose thematic elements are similar to my own.